Pig iron exports from Ukraine rose in the first nine months of 2020 amid uplifted demand from the US, China, and Turkey.
Ukraine exported 2.3mn mt of pig iron in January-September of this year, up 25pc from the same period of 2019, according to Ukrainian customs. The main outlet was the USA (56pc of total shipments), followed by China (23pc) and Turkey (8pc). Ukraine exported 7.5pc more pig iron in September at 245,000mt, over the prior-year period.
Pig iron production in Ukraine declined by 2pc to 15.2mn mt during this period, according to Ukrmetalurgprom data. However, the country was ranked as the 9th largest producer of the material in the world, according to worldsteel. The top-five pig iron producers in the world through the first nine months of this year were China (665.478mn mt), India (72.118mn mt), Japan (45.708mn mt), Russia (39.930mn mt) and South Korea (33.517mn mt).